


My King Will Be Kind

by Y4242564



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Love/Hate, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:27:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28262355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Y4242564/pseuds/Y4242564
Summary: In Eren's eyes, Annie is nothing but a merciless condescending woman. Despite constantly telling himself to be unbothered, he can't help himself but be drawn to her peculiar radiance. He doesn't like what's happening to him at all.
Relationships: Annie Leonhart/Eren Yeager, Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Ymir, Mikasa Ackerman/Jean Kirstein
Comments: 10
Kudos: 39





	1. Soft Speak, Mean Streak

Eren was once again pinned to the ground like a loser.

He couldn't point out if he was amazed by the icy blue eyes that looked down on him, or if he wanted to stand up and shut them close forever. He decided he hated her. 

Annie Leonhart's light blonde hair appeared gold in the daylight. Her petite figure dawned over his long body. He could feel the other scouts cracking up about how he was taken down by such a tiny woman. Eren scowled. The feeling wasn't new to him at all. He grew up with Mikasa. Annie Leonhart, however, was new to him. She was sort of, oddly electrifying.

_If only Reiner didn't call her over._

_"Let's show her how true soldiers ought to behave,"_ he mimicked the other cadet's voice in his mind. Annie was exceptional. What was the point of challenging her? Eren studied her face. She still wore the penetrating gaze he gave them. She must've felt like the challenge was a waste of time. _A waste of talent for someone as talented as her._

Annie flipped the wooden knife she snatched from Eren's hands. Reiner was able to catch it. Sure he did. Another exceptional cadet.

"Here," the woman deadpanned. "Now it's your turn to attack me."

Eren felt his eyebrows shoot up. _Arrogant. So arrogant._

"No I-"

"Do it, Reiner," Eren cut him off. He wanted him to teach her a lesson. He wanted Annie to know how it feels to kiss the dirt. "You're gonna teach her the responsibility of being a soldier, right?"

For someone who was still helpless on the ground, Eren's voice was stern. Reiner, on the other hand, wore an uneasy expression. It took him a few seconds to regain composure. 

"Yeah, sometimes a soldier can't back down," he mouthed. "Like right now!"

What a joke. On a whim, Reiner's enormous body joined Eren down the Earth. Eren decided he hated her more. But he also decided he won't show it. He won't stoop low. He won't lose his mind over something so petty.

"You're technique is incredible," he said. It wasn't a lie. She was incredible. _Incredibly frustrating._

"Who taught you to fight?" he continued. He must admit he really was curious. Who was the bastard who raised someone like Annie Leonhart?

"My dad," the woman spoke. Her face showed no interest about story-telling at all. Whoever the dad was, Eren thought he didn't do a good job raising her.

"Your father could-"

"Who cares?" Annie interrupted with her same mean tone. "Doing this is pointless."

Eren almost wanted to throw a punch. _She thinks the cadet corps is pointless? What a bitch._

"You mean this training?" he asked, trying his best to stay calm. Annie's icy eyes were still uninterested. Eren's deep green pair were almost faltering. 

"Anti personnel techniques don't factor into our scores. So people take it easy until it's over," she started. "The right to join the Military Police and live in the secured Inner Districts is only granted to the top 10 scoring candidates."

Annie glanced at Eren before her lips started spewing words again.

"The people who bother participating in this are either _stupidly_ serious like you or seriously stupid."

Eren felt his body stiffen. Why would she say something like that? Why does she speak like she's better than everyone else? To his surprise, the petite woman swiftly drew the knife close to his neck, her other hand snaking to the collar of his cadet uniform. Her eyes showed a glint of built up anger. With venom in her voice, Annie Leonhart asked him a hard question.

"Why in this world are the people most capable of opposing the titans, the only ones given the opportunity of avoiding them entirely?" her voice grew forceful. "How do you think it got to be such a farce?"

Eren couldn't take it anymore. She was getting into his nerves. He wanted to scream at her face and ask her what was wrong with her.

"Who knows?!" letting himself out of her grip, he tried his best to deal a blow to the woman. He failed anyway. Eren found himself suspended in mid-air for a second, before his bones met the ground once again. This time, Annie had pointed a wooden knife towards him. That only meant one thing. He was weak. He was no match for her.

"Maybe it's just human nature?" she asked once again, her voice holding a mean streak.

Eren was terrified. She was terrified of her strength, her questions, and her bitter icy eyes. Annie slowly let go of him, her eyes have softened but it still had the anger in them. She stood up, looking down on him once again. 

"Point is, I can't even pretend to be stupid enough to play soldier in this insane world."

Almost frozen, Eren watched her as she walked away. She was right. He knew she was right. Knowing that he couldn't prove her wrong, he balled his fists. Now that she made him realize how much of a fool he was for not noticing the contradictions before, it was time for him to make her realize something else.

That day, Eren swore to himself that he'll make her submit to him instead. Annie Leonhart will stop looking down on him. But for the mean time, _the king will be kind._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hah. This fanfic is dedicated to boys and their inferiority complex. Also, check Inhaler's unreleased song "My King Will Be Kind." The lyrics have inspired me to write this fanfic :>


	2. How Many More Times?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having his views changed, Eren became much more serious about the Cadet Corps. That was why he chose to shake Jean off his selfish desires. However, this act made him look like a fool to Annie Leonhart. He doesn't even know why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone! Please stay safe!

After what Annie made him realize, Eren wondered when Jean became so much of an annoying person.

“So interior life’s simple and comfortable?” he gritted his teeth. The bastard was talking so loud he overheard his conversation with Marco. “Five years ago, this place was also part of the interior.”

“What’s your point, Eren?” Jean hissed.

Taking a gulp from his drink, Eren lightly slammed his cup in the table.

“Jean, you’re such a simpleton, you’d be comfortable wherever you go.”

Eren saw how Jean’s eye twitched. He also heard a few chuckles from the other cadets, Reiner and Connie. _Whatever._ He wasn’t gonna take back what he said. He now knew better. He’s gonna show Annie that he now knew better.

“Damn you,” Jean lowly growled. What Eren said really offended him. Ignoring his growing fury, Eren continued.

“Don’t you think it’s crazy? Learning how to kill titans just to run away from them?” Eren wanted to laugh. He sounded like Annie. He wasn’t supposed to sound like Annie.

“You bring that up now?” Jean’s voice was starting to rise. “This farce should be kept going for my sake if nothing else!”

Surprised by Jean’s answer, Eren jolted from his seat.

“You damn bastard!”

“Fuck off and face reality!” Jean stood up from his table as well. They were starting to disrupt the peace in the cafeteria but the two chose to march towards each other. Eren grabbed Jean by the collar. If not because of the people watching, Eren could’ve strangled him right there.

“Eren, stop it!” Armin stood up.

“Stop this,” the other one was Mikasa. Her deep calm voice and the touch of her hand seemed to tone down the tension between him and Jean. The boys let go of each other.

_Mikasa was still holding Eren’s hand._

Eren swore to the Gods he was already over the fight, but Jean shoved him up again.

“Dammit, you asshole!” he growled.

_What the fuck?!_

“Fuck you! I backed off!” Eren complained. Jean’s grip on his collar was so tight it was hard for him to breathe. _What the fuck did I do wrong?!_

“Who cares!? I’m so jealous!”

“What the hell are you even talking about?”

_Huh? Jealous? Why?_

Eren was about to lose it but he noticed they were really causing a commotion. Reiner and _Annie._ They were looking at him. Annie was looking at him. Maybe she was thinking about how immature he was for fighting Jean. Maybe she was thinking he was pathetic. But what was he supposed to do? Jean was strangling him! Jean was acting like how he always acted before.

But then it hit him.

_Not this time. I’ll use my skills to resolve this situation._

Eren remembered it so vividly, how Annie slammed him down the ground. He grabbed Jean by the wrist, mimicking the move. He felt Annie’s expression change, but maybe that was only his imagination. Brushing it off, Eren flipped Jean over. His body hit the wooden floor.

“That hurt..” Jean complained, almost in a whisper. “What the hell was that?!”

Eren didn’t care. He deserved that.

“That’s a move I learned while you were slacking off,” Eren answered. He could feel Annie staring at him. He almost wanted to turn around and ask her. _See that Annie? I can do this too!_ But instead of doing that, he kept talking.

“If you think reality is just living comfortably and following your whims, can you seriously dare to call yourself a soldier?”

Everyone was quiet. _That’s right, all of you should listen._

Mikasa, Reiner, including _her,_ nobody dared to make a sound. But the silence was broken once the door to the cafeteria swung open. It was Keith Shadis.

“I thought I just heard a loud noise,” he started, his voice was as terrifying as always. “Someone care to enlighten me as to what’s going on?”

If it was quiet before, it became even quieter. It was like everyone’s heartbeats decided to pause for a moment, in fear of Shadis. In fear of having to run a hundred laps in the field. If even a potato can piss him off, what about a fucking fight?

_Fuck, what did I even fight Jean for?_

Eren was about to lose his shit when Mikasa bravely raised her hand. _Don’t tell me she’s gonna sell us out?!_

“Sasha just ripped a giant fart sir.”

Eren felt relieved that the head instructor seemed to believe the stupid statement.

-

After what seemed an eternity, Eren decided to leave the cafeteria for some fresh air. He was walking down the dim hallways when he noticed a petite figure resting on a pillar. _When the fuck did she get here?_

“I’m surprised you learned the move,” Annie flatly told him. She wasn’t even looking at him. She was just looking at the wooden floor as if it was way more interesting than Eren’s face.

“I’m surprised you’re talking to me,” Eren answered. Did she really think only she could pull that move?

Annie clicked her tongue before meeting him in the eye. Once again, he felt immobilized by her icy stare. Even though the torches made her irises look orange, the coldness within refused to falter.

“Tell me Yeager, what was that tantrum about?”

_Tantrum?! She calls that a tantrum?!_

“I was just educating Jean,” Eren hissed. He was just doing what she did to him. Wasn’t that the right thing to do? To wake people up?

“What does that make you? Some sort of prophet?”

Eren balled his fists.

“I could ask you the same thing, Annie.”

The woman laughed. Eren’s fist tightened. What was so funny?

“We’re not the same, Eren. Never.”

And just like that, Annie left him standing in the halls like an idiot again. How many more times? How many more times will that woman make him look like a fool? Not knowing how to unleash his frustration, he kicked the pillar where she leaned.

“The king will be kind,” he whispered to himself. No he won’t lose her shit over her. He must stay unbothered. _He’s gonna turn the tables around._


	3. Lone Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More than a strange dream he can't remember, Annie pisses Eren off.

Tall trunks rose meters above the ground, barely letting the sunlight seep through the canopy of leaves. Eren wondered where he was and why he felt so disturbingly enormous. To confirm this, he slowly moved his feet.

_What is this? Why am I h-huge?_

As if the sight of his gigantic legs weren't strange enough, icy blue eyes met his gaze. Eren felt his spine shiver as the pair of eyes glittered like Annie Leonhart's. It even had the same strands of seemingly gold blonde hair dangling over them. But it wasn't her. It was a ... _titan?_ Eren knew it was just a dream. Why would the titan not tower over him like he was as huge as its body? 

The large figure moved its arms, making a stance so familiar to him. Eren frowned. The titan even knew Annie Leonhart's fighting stance. Eren looked around him. The trees around them looked so calm that it made him wonder if he was having a nightmare.

_"Eren!"_

Armin's voice echoed in the forest. Eren turned his head in search for his friend. He was nowhere to be found. It was just him and the unfamiliar titan. He thought it was strange, how the titan maintained the stance and not moving a single inch to decapitate him. It was as if the titan was thinking. _It was like it recognized him._

_Why won't it attack me?_

_"Eren! Get out!"_

The titan decided to move. It quickly closed their gap, the movement reminded him of someone familiar. Eren waited for its enormous jaws to swallow him whole, but that didn't happen in his dream. He knew it was a dream. But why did it feel so real? Why did the titan grab his wrist as if his hands were as large as its own? Why was he the same size with the monster? As he was deeply engulfed in confusion, he was once again suspended in the air. It was just like when Annie flipped him over during training.

_W-what is this? Why is this happening?_

It felt so slow, how he was lifted off the forest ground. He waited for his body to meet the ground. But it didn't happen. He was still mid-air, with a pair of grudge-stricken eyes penetrating through his skin. 

_Is that you, Annie?_

He waited and waited for his body to make contact with the earth.

_Eren! Wake up!_

But it didn't happen. 

Instead, he found himself facing a worried Armin and Mikasa.

"Eren! Are you okay?!" Mikasa pulled him into a hug. _Huh? Why?_ He gently shoved her away with an annoyed expression.

"I'm fine. I just had a dream," he answered. _Dream?_

"Was it a nightmare?" Armin asked him. _What was it again?_

"I d-dont remember."

_Was I really dreaming? Why am I leaning on a tree?_

"Was I sleeping?" he asked, the sound of wooden swords clashing through each other grew louder in the distance.

Armin nodded.

"Yes. During training. Get up before instructor Shadis kicks your ass," it was Jean. Eren looked up to him but the other cadet refused to meet him in the eyes. If he wasn't mistaken, Jean was sort of blushing. "Get up there, Eren! You wanted to take the training seriously, right? Then why are you slacking off?"

Before he could answer him, Jean bolted away from the three of them. Mikasa grabbed Eren by the hand to help him stand.

As his feet stood steady in the ground, his eyes searched for _her._

She was there in the field. Annie Leonhart. 

_Why am I looking for her?_

Annie was standing still in the middle of the active cadets. She wasn't moving an inch, though her eyes moved from one trainee to another. From the goofy Sasha and Connie, to the hardworking Reiner and Marco. She was just watching all of them, _like a lone wolf looming over sheep._

Eren's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. He felt his nerves tighten underneath his skin.

_That bitch thinks so highly of herself._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm deeply sorry for some errors :< English is not my first language.


	4. And They Love and They Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Out of curiosity, Eren decides to find out what everybody thinks of Annie Leonhart. This silly act seemed to pull their worlds together, but also drawing a line in between.

The fields have started to feel unbelievably hot during the day- the trainees found themselves sheltered in between a line of trees. Eren, panting hard, wiped the sweat off his forehead. Recently, he'd been working his butt off to get stronger. 

_He needs to get stronger to prove something._

"We're supposed to be cleaning the barracks at this time of the day, aren't we? Does anybody of you think that Shadis is doing this on purpose?" Jean snorts.

Sasha creases her forehead.

"Doing what on purpose?"

"Cooking us in the daylight," Connie answers in his place.

Sasha lets out a horrified expression.

"Does that mean we're all food?!"

"Technically, for the titans, yes."

Eren ignores the stupid discussion between his friends as his eyes started scanning the place. His eyes moved from trainee after trainee, hoping a blonde girl with blue eyes would get caught up in his sight.

_Why am I even looking for that woman?_

As Eren was about to give his search up, a familiar figure quickly walks past them- her legs softly brushed through Eren's. It was her. Annie. Maybe the reason why Eren wasn't able to spot her that easily, because she let her hair down. The faint summer wind blew the golden strands away, revealing her perfectly still face. The woman never even spared him a look, but Eren knew she was aware of being watched by his pair of green-gray eyes. The thought of her smirking as her back was turned against his, sent goosebumps beneath his skin. 

_What's with that woman?_

"Jean," he called, eyes still on the direction where Annie went.

"What?" 

"What do you think of Annie?"

The rest of the squad turned their heads to him. He could feel Mikasa and Armin's confused expressions.

"She's cool, really. Would've been cooler if her hair was longer and black."

Eren wanted to smack Jean in the face. He turned to face his other friends instead. He wanted to ask Reiner or Bertholdt, but they were sleeping under the shade. It would be pointless to ask Sasha and Connie, if even Jean didn't make any sense. 

"Mikasa, what do you think of Annie?" he asked, his eyes stern.

"W-why are you asking me?"

Eren looked down at his shoes. He also wondered why he was asking. Why? Why does he care? He sighed.

"I guess I'm just curious, that's all."

Mikasa awkwardly smiled at him. Eren wondered why she looked like she was uncomfortable all of a sudden. Before he could take his question back, Mikasa answered.

"I think she's pretty good at fighting. And she's pretty and... interesting."

Eren felt his eyes twitch. All of them seemed fond of Annie. 

_But why? She's not even nice at all._

"What about you, Armin? What do you think of Annie?"

The sudden question startled the shy cadet. Seemingly flustered, his cheeks were tainted red. Eren felt an unusual feeling in his stomach. It was like there was something inside him that didn't like how Armin reacted to his question.

"U-uhh. S-she's really hard to talk to, but she's not a bad person," he starts, his face nervous and tense. Eventually, Armin smiles as he continued. "I like how she's independent too. But also, I think I kinda pity her. Something bad must have happened to her in the past. That's why she likes to isolate herself."

Eren creases his forehead. 

"Do you like her?" he unconsciously asks his friend.

Armin turned even redder.

"W-what? I g-guess? How about you, do you l-like her?"

Eren, unexpectedly, felt his cheeks warm up. His hands tensed up into a ball by the thought of getting flustered over the woman.

_Why would I even like her? What if she's pretty and cool? Like that'd even matter._

His eyes began searching for her again. But this time, she found him first. Her icy blue eyes were staring right into his- pulling him closer, and also pushing him away.


End file.
